tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39674268297905780592015-03-19T22:42:42.616-07:00Family Law GuyCalifornia family law news, views, and ruminations
by Richard Gould-SaltmanRichard Gould-Saltmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04962050153663635164noreply@blogger.comBlogger150125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967426829790578059.post-26595789274951854252015-01-15T12:10:00.000-08:002015-01-15T12:10:03.739-08:00Pet Custody? What's The Standard?Recent changes in the California version of the Domestic Violence Prevention Act now permit a judge making a restraining order, to make an order for "... the exclusive care, possession, or control of any animal owned, possessed, leased, kept, or held by either the petitioner or the respondent or a minor child residing in the residence or household of either the petitioner or the respondent. The Richard Gould-Saltmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04962050153663635164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967426829790578059.post-42185268785644568422014-11-19T17:14:00.000-08:002014-11-19T17:14:31.545-08:00Spend More Time talking About The Relationship, and Less Money on the Ring, the Wedding (and the Divorce?)An Emory University study suggests that there is an inverse correlation between the amount a couple spends on the engagement ring and the wedding, and the chance that the marriage will last. I have my own theories about why this correlation may exist, but it does re-emphasize my "sermon" about pre-marital planning. While sitting down and talking about what you intend in the marriage, Richard Gould-Saltmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04962050153663635164noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967426829790578059.post-20129348036824012292014-10-01T09:47:00.000-07:002014-10-01T09:47:33.585-07:00"Conscious Coupling" What Is Marriage Supposed To Do? Does It Still Do It?One of the recurring themes of this blog has been "Why do people get married? What will help then accomplish whatever it is they want to accomplish by marrying?"
It appears that the number of Americans, over-all, who believe that marriage does what they want done, continues to shrink, even as the broader recognition of same-sex marriage would seem logically to have increased it. There are Richard Gould-Saltmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04962050153663635164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967426829790578059.post-54974979161714053392014-09-23T14:45:00.000-07:002014-09-23T16:22:03.152-07:00Gambling Winnings and Child Support Ohio has now implemented an intercept program so that winners at the four casinos in Ohio may trigger data base checks. If the winner wins $1,200 or more from slot machines, $5,000 or more from table games or $600 or more from high-stakes games, then their name is checked against a data base for child support owed. If anything is owed, it is taken out of the winnings. Ohio’s seven racinos,Karen Cynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179597398178099810noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967426829790578059.post-83063838226009154962014-08-25T15:17:00.000-07:002014-08-25T15:17:39.173-07:00Exercising Self-Help in Custody Cases Kathleen Aubain is in the Oneida County Jail in New York for violating a court order. Aubain has a two and a half year old daughter, Isabellah Rose Campos with Eric Campos. All three were living in Arizona. Campos has custody of Isabellah. Aubain’s mother says the only reason Campos has custody is because Aubain didn’t bring Isabellah back to him at the end of her custodial time. Karen Cynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179597398178099810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967426829790578059.post-13144949802031794052014-08-15T15:48:00.003-07:002014-09-12T10:12:59.297-07:00Child Custody And Religion (Again): What Should Happen When One Parent Converts? We've got another child custody and religion case from New York, about, at least ostensibly, what should happen when one parent, but not the other, decides to "change horses mid-stream" in terms of the child's religious upbringing.
A closer reading of the facts suggests that other facts played a much greater role in the decision than the religion issue did, and that the judge may have used Richard Gould-Saltmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04962050153663635164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967426829790578059.post-2229292589373334022014-08-12T13:38:00.001-07:002014-08-12T13:38:44.522-07:00Grandparent Custodial Rights Interesting read regarding grandparent rights. The Court of Appeals upheld a Dependency Court order granting a grandmother visitation rights. It’s a case right here in Los Angeles County involving DCFS.
http://www.metnews.com/articles/2014/visitation080814.htmGrandparent rights come up relatively regularly, but I don't believe that this case will necessarily significantly broaden the law Karen Cynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179597398178099810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967426829790578059.post-60252581072453913422014-07-21T17:07:00.000-07:002014-07-21T17:07:15.018-07:00Interference with Child Custody Maria Jose Carrascosa, 48, is a native of Spain and lived in Fort Lee, New Jersey. She had a child, a daughter, with Peter Innes while in New Jersey and the couple separated in 2004. They signed a parenting agreement prohibiting either parent from taking the child out of the country without the consent of the other. In 2005, while custody was still unresolved, Carrascosa took the child, then Karen Cynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179597398178099810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967426829790578059.post-25204378564001236682014-07-15T17:19:00.000-07:002014-09-11T16:35:05.616-07:00Should a Very Young Child Give Preference Testimony? Professional basketball player, Chris Bosh, has been in a custody battle over his young year old daughter with the child’s mother, Allison Mathis. Apparently Mathis is requesting that their daughter, Trinity, (either four or five years old), testify in court.
http://cocoafab.com/uh-oh-chris-boshs-baby-mother-seeks-to-have-their-child-testify-in-custody-battle/http://madamenoire.com/444759Karen Cynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179597398178099810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967426829790578059.post-23588087043231563262014-07-07T16:01:00.000-07:002014-07-07T16:01:20.937-07:00Update on Failure to Make Child Support Payments An update on my previous blog from last week (July 1)! Apparently, Houston resident, Clifford Hall, who was jailed for failing to pay child support has been released after one week. Hall’s wages were being withheld to pay the child support but, due to some type of clerical error by his employer, the wages were improperly withheld or not being paid to the mother. He is current and has paid Karen Cynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179597398178099810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967426829790578059.post-30577673965491680682014-07-03T14:37:00.001-07:002014-09-11T16:35:35.896-07:00"Grey" Divorce and Retirement PlansFrom today's New York TimesRichard Gould-Saltmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04962050153663635164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967426829790578059.post-43828054277087713642014-07-01T14:57:00.000-07:002014-07-01T14:57:25.998-07:00Failure to Make Child Support Payments Clifford Hall from Houston, Texas was sentenced to six months in jail for failure to pay his child support. He fell behind and owed more than $3,000 in child support. His wages were garnished but his company failed to submit the money to the court for his ex-wife to collect. Hall has become current plus an extra $1,000 but could not avoid facing jail time based on a Texas law.
http://Karen Cynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179597398178099810noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967426829790578059.post-41586576631495343532014-06-19T09:49:00.003-07:002014-06-19T09:57:12.064-07:00International Child Custody and Child Abduction: Who Are The "Good Guy" and "Bad Guy" Countries? The Most Recent Hague Convention ReportThe most recent State Department Report on Compliance with the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction shows that even those countries which have signed off on the Convention do not always comply with it. Even Western Hemisphere countries, including Costa
Rica, Guatemala, and Honduras, are inconsistent in their compliance. If you're in a dispute over the custody Richard Gould-Saltmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04962050153663635164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967426829790578059.post-63921240876756597782014-06-18T17:11:00.001-07:002014-06-20T17:10:11.904-07:00Consequences of Intentionally Avoiding SupportBuena Park city council member, Sangjin Miller Oh, age 50, was convicted of five counts of perjury by declaration. Between September 23, 2004 and July 20, 2009, Oh signed official DMV documents using fraudulent information on five separate occasions. He did this to avoid paying child support to his ex-wife by hiding his assets under a false name. Apparently, Oh applied for a driver’s Karen Cynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179597398178099810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967426829790578059.post-22122374180903838102014-06-13T14:45:00.001-07:002014-06-13T14:45:52.340-07:00Child Support Owed to an Incarcerated Parent Tracey Richter is serving life in prison in Iowa for the 2001 murder of 20 year old Dustin Wehde. Richter has been receiving child support arrears payments from her ex-husband, Michael Roberts who began paying back the child support owed after their divorce. After she had received $2,000 in payments from Roberts, a judge ordered that Richter no longer has any dependents and doesn’t need theKaren Cynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179597398178099810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967426829790578059.post-66439221858265627142014-06-09T13:27:00.000-07:002014-06-19T10:21:16.657-07:00If You're Going To Get Married, Please Do It CorrectlyThis new case from New York stands for the (reasonably obvious?) proposition that if you scrupulously avoid doing any of those things which would cause you to have a valid marriage, then you're not married, even if you have a big elaborate "wedding", presided over by an internet-ordained "clergyperson", who also fails to do any of those things.
The take-away, for me, is the Court's observationRichard Gould-Saltmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04962050153663635164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967426829790578059.post-74882289465142209872014-06-04T13:52:00.000-07:002014-06-04T13:52:26.795-07:00Child Support for a Non-Biological ChildBrian F., a Minnesota man, signed an affidavit of paternity in 1995, five months after a baby boy was born. That child is now 19 years old. Brian was ordered to pay child support and in 2009, the state removed the boy from his mother’s custody and the state asked for an increase of child support from Brian F. to $369 per month. In 2011, Brian requested the child support be reduced or Karen Cynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179597398178099810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967426829790578059.post-8961292599621812402014-05-28T11:28:00.000-07:002014-05-28T11:28:50.045-07:00Incarcerated Birth Parents' Rights to Their Children Kim and Dave Hodgin became the foster parents of Sonya before she was two. She was adopted by them in 2008. Before the adoption was finalized, Sonya’s birth father, John McCaul pled guilty to transporting firearms and was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison. Under Tennessee law, parents who are incarcerated for more than ten years do not have any rights to a child under the age of 8, Karen Cynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179597398178099810noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967426829790578059.post-31916174429685795692014-05-19T15:47:00.001-07:002014-05-19T15:47:37.608-07:00No More Babies if You Owe Support? In September 2012, an Ohio man, Asim Taylor, 36 years old now, pled guilty to four charges of non-payment of child support for his four children and was sentenced to five years of probation. In January 2013, Taylor agreed and was ordered to pay $1,700 of his $96,000 arrearage by October 16, 2013 or else he would serve 30 days in jail (a process called a “purge”). Taylor failed to pay the Karen Cynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179597398178099810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967426829790578059.post-18327926331956011862014-05-13T14:00:00.000-07:002014-05-13T14:00:10.980-07:00Validity of Custody Orders Issued by a Tribal Court Layla Billie and Kevin Stier had two children. Billie is a Native American part of the Miccosukee tribe in Florida. Stier is non-Native American. They were never married and it’s unclear whether they ever lived together. Billie initiated custody proceedings in Miccosukee Tribal Court on October 1, 2012. The Tribal Court accepted jurisdiction and awarded Billie temporary custody and setKaren Cynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179597398178099810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967426829790578059.post-287367657547701592014-05-05T16:23:00.002-07:002014-06-10T11:04:35.216-07:00"Coupling" and "Uncoupling", Conscious Or Not“Conscious Uncoupling” is the most recent "flavor of the month” to be launched into the popular terminology and fashion in divorce, following on the heels of “Integrative divorce”, “collaborative divorce”, and the division of “mediation” among “transformative”, “evaluative”, “facilitative”, and “adjudicative” mediation. Leaving aside for a moment some of the more eccentric and New-Age-y Richard Gould-Saltmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04962050153663635164noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967426829790578059.post-41958401858126003462014-05-05T15:30:00.000-07:002014-05-05T15:30:47.675-07:00Common Financial Issues In Divorcehttp://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303380004579521661563711986 Interesting read about the some common issues in divorces identified by financial experts from the financial perspective. For the most part, I agree with everything these experts say. Often, I will advise clients to consult with a financial advisor before so that they can resolve many of these common issues or Karen Cynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179597398178099810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967426829790578059.post-69390082830432386492014-04-30T17:12:00.001-07:002014-09-11T16:37:35.815-07:00Why "Self Help" In Child Custody Cases Is a Bad Idea Kelly Cooney, 35 of Lee’s Summit, Missouri has been charged, in Iowa with conspiracy to commit first degree burglary, conspiracy to go armed with intent, and child endangerment. Kevin Carter, 50, from Raytown, Missouri has also been charged, in Iowa, with first degree burglary, going armed with intent, assault while causing serious injury and carrying weapons. Apparently, Cooney and Karen Cynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179597398178099810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967426829790578059.post-22673218240582199342014-04-21T13:48:00.000-07:002014-05-02T17:19:34.941-07:00Impact of Domestic Violence on ChildrenThe majority of domestic violence goes unreported. Only one in four cases of domestic violence will be reported. According to a study published by the American Psychological Association, parents or caregivers were physically injured in more than one out of three cases in which children witnessed domestic violence, but less than 2% of the cases resulted in jail time for the perpetrator.
This Karen Cynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179597398178099810noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967426829790578059.post-52735549067746252262014-04-07T16:30:00.000-07:002014-04-07T16:30:33.730-07:00Child Support Obligation After Death of the Child
David A. Shane, now 47 years old, was convicted in 1997 of the 1994 murder and feticide of 23 year old Nicole Lynn Koontz who was seven months pregnant with Shane’s co-defendant’s, Robert L. Hicks’, child. Shane is serving a 60 year sentence for the crime.
Shane and his ex-wife divorced in 1990 and have a daughter Ashlie born in 1988. He was ordered to pay $67 per week in child support. Karen Cynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00179597398178099810noreply@blogger.com1